18 months

connor is 18 months old. he is so crazy cute lately. he is talking more and more everyday. his new words are juice, dog, ball, and pop (for popsicle.) we have been spending every moment together. really. he is at the age where he follows me all around the house and hangs on to my leg or skirt. it is really a bit much. he still is using a bottle but we hope to take that away from him soon. he does this funny thing where he has to put his hand down my top while he is drinking his bottle. it reminds me of how dahlia used to put her finger in her belly button when she used to drink a bottle.

he is a really considerate little guy. he loves to help whenever he can. he is the first to help me pick up the toys or hand me the remote control. so sweet. he is finally big enough to play with mason and dahlia. they have so much fun playing together.

he is getting big. he weighs 22 pounds and is 31.5 inches tall. he had his check up with the pediatrician and this was the first time he met all the milestones of an average 18 month old. she said it usually takes almost three years for preemies to catch up so he was doing great. whew! he is still just barely on the charts for his weight and height but i am sure he will catch up soon. i just love my baby connor.

meet wrinkles

mason got to bring home the class "pet" wrinkles for a week. wrinkles is an adorable stuffed dog that gets to spend a week at home with all of the students. when it is your week everyday you get to share something with the class.

monday he had to bring in a poster with family photos and share five objects that tell something about him. he brought in the book knuffle bunny, raiders of the lost ark movie, lego star wars video game, a drawing of a boat, and his diving mask.

tuesday he brought in a photo of his favorite stuffed animal rudolph the reindeer.

wednesday he wore his favorite star wars t-shirt.

thursday he shared his favorite lego toy.

friday he had me, dahlia and connor visit his class (daddy was at work) for a meet and greet. throughout the week we took pictures with wrinkles and kept a journal of our activities.

it was a fun experience. mason loved wrinkles. i was surprised how attached he got to this little stuffed dog. he slept with wrinkles every night and he has never slept with a stuffed animal before. everyday after school he would bring wrinkles outside for a picnic and play on the swings with him. when it was time to return wrinkles mason got really sad. he told me that wrinkles was going to miss him. it was just adorable. to tell you the truth i got a little sad too. that little dog is crazy cute.

easter

happy easter. man today was a long day. i am super tired. we stayed the night last night at christina's house so we wouldn't have to rush in the morning and drive an hour for church. this plan sounded better than it actually was. the kids were so excited it took forever for them to fall asleep. all five of us ended up sleeping on a queen sized blow up mattress on the floor. it was very crowded and uncomfortable so needless to say we didn't get much sleep. we decided that next year we will just stay at our house. it is only an hour drive.

we all went to my mom's church in the morning and then back to christina's house for brunch. it was nice and relaxing. miles and i surprised the kids with a new wagon. they love it. they were getting wagon rides all around the backyard. so cute. i did not get a chance to make dahlia's easter dress this year and i was pretty bummed. i did manage to find a super cute dress for her so she still looked adorable. next year i hope to sew one though. all the kids got lots of treats in their baskets and more from the egg hunt. the egg hunt was pretty cute. bodhi was the big winner and found the most eggs despite his having a broken leg. it was a fun easter day. now for sleep.

coloring eggs

we went to christina's house on saturday to color eggs for easter. susan and doug came over to help. i was glad they came because jen and ray couldn't make it and it is always more fun with lots of people.

we kept it simple and mostly did solid colors with little crayon drawings or names. classic. the kids loved. it. i think we colored close to five dozen eggs. that was a little crazy. luckily i am pretty sure my kids love hard boiled eggs.

new cast

we went to visit jen and ray today after school. bodhi has a new cast. much smaller and cuter than the temporary cast. they said he can walk on it so hopefully things will get easier for jen and ray.

worst babysitter ever

yes it is true. i am the worst babysitter ever. ugh. jen and ray called me yesterday to tell me jen was in labor and could i please watch bodhi for them. yes, yes of course. so i drove down to santa monica, picked him up and brought him back to my place.

mason, dahlia, bodhi, and connor were all playing outside on the swingset and i was outside watching. for some reason bodhi decided to jump off the top platform of the swingset to the ground. when he landed he was crying that his leg hurt and so i picked him up, took him inside and cleaned him up. there was no visible injury to his leg so i guessed he was tired and sat with him on the couch while we all watched tv. he soon fell asleep and had a long nap. after he woke up he was still saying his leg hurt. hmmmm. i was starting to get worried that he was really hurt.

miles soon came home and checked him out. no bruising, no swelling, no problem moving the ankle around. miles thought it wasn't anything serious. i talked to jen and ray to let them know what happened but we didn't think he was hurt bad. i did not want them to have to worry because jen had just given birth a couple of hours ago. they had enough to worry about.

so this morning when he was still saying his leg hurt and wasn't walking on it. i really started to panic. i called ray and told him he should see bodhi and maybe take him to a doctor. i kept mason home from school and took all the kids with me to their house. ray met me and decided to take bodhi to their doctor.

while ray was with bodhi, i had to go with all my kids and pick up jen and baby kira from the hospital. man, what a day. it took me a hour to get her and then i very carefully drove them home.

poor ray had to take bodhi for x-rays where they found he had a hairline fracture of his tibia. super. he then had to take him to the emergency room for a temporary cast. man. i feel terrible. i can't believe i only had to watch him for a day and he broke his leg. i realize it isn't my fault and jen and ray were very nice for not blaming me but geez. why me? now poor jen and ray have to take care of a newborn and a three year old in a cast.

a new niece

my sister jen and her husband ray had their baby girl yesterday. they named her kira fay. she was born at 3:00 pm. she was 6 pounds 14 ounces and 20 inches tall. so cute.

i didn't get to be there for the birth but was very excited to pick jen up from the hospital today and meet the precious little girl. she is so cute and so tiny. congratulations jen and ray!

spring break

another museum! today we went to the discovery science center. i usually love this place but i forgot that other people would be on spring break and they would all decide that today is the day to go to the science center. man was it crowded. too crowded for me. the kids didn't seem to mind but it was hard for them to get a chance to interact with the exhibits. they still had fun though.

after the museum jen and i took the kids for dinner at chili's. yum. it was a fun day and i am so excited that it is only tuesday. we still have the rest of the week to enjoy no school. yay. i think tomorrow we will play at home.

the aquarium

mason is on spring break this week so i have a ton of activities planned. today jen and i took the kids to the long beach aquarium. we decided to get a membership. i am so excited. we have been here a few times in the past and the kids always love it. i am really obsessed with anything relating to the ocean so i love it too. it is so cool to look at all the different sea animals. i wanted to join before but it was a bit expensive. luckily they offer a family membership for two adults and all your kids that is not too much. it was the perfect deal for us.

we didn't stay all day because now that we are members we can come back whenever we want to. i think we were there for three hours which was long enough for me. the kids were getting a little cranky. they definitely loved the outside exhibits the most including the shark lagoon. mason was pretty worried that the sharks might try and eat him so he did not want to touch them. they all loved the giant water-squirting squid playground. there was a large boat that the kids could play in. so fun. my favorite was looking at the jelly fish. they are just beautiful. it was a fun visit. i am so happy we can return soon.

shower for sister

my sister jen is expecting a baby girl in about a month. my other sisters, my mom, and i decided to throw her a baby shower. we kept it simple but wanted everything to be very pink and girly. i am so excited that she is having a girl. i just love girly things.

we had the shower at my sister christina's house. this has been the place where we all seem to gather lately. we were on a tight budget so i was happy that we got to reuse a bunch of things that i already had. for decorations we tied the curtains with tissue paper flowers, hung my homemade party garland, and got lots of pink balloons. the centerpieces doubled as party favors. they were rubber duckies and little ribbon tied boxes filled with spring colored m&m's. so cute. we served tea sandwiches and various salads for lunch along with strawberry lemonade and white wine sangria. i had big plans of making the same chocolate spice cake that i made for new years eve but opted to take a trip to porto's bakery instead. i bought their parisian chocolate cake and a fruit tart. yum. my sisters were worried that we would have too many sweets but really is there such a thing? we ended up having almost no leftovers.

jen was very cute and loved all her gifts. so many pink things. how could she not love them? when the party was over and everyone had gone home. miles stopped by to drop off the kids with me. we ordered chinese take out and had another sleep over. christina and i were exhausted but stayed up late anyway. the perfect ending to a party.

survivor challenge

today was very busy but very fun. mason's school had an obstacle course on the playground that they let all the kids participate in. they do this event every year. they call it survivor challenge. the parents are encouraged to come and cheer their kid along. i went with dahlia and connor. it was crazy hot. why is it so hot already? the obstacle course had 16 different challenges that had to be completed. some of them were: tires that had to be jumped through, tunnels to crawl through, a skateboard slalom, a "spider web" that you had to climb through, and a sack race to finish it off. it was so cute and funny to watch the kindergarten kids try to do all the complicated tasks. there was a lot of confusion and chaos. the funniest section was one where they make you do the macarena. mason just stood there looking lost. i don't blame him. who would want to do the macarena? mason loved being outside and had a blast. such a fun way to end the week.